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What does the sentence "it would be hard to top that." mean?

thuypham_123
I've read an English novel and had difficulty in understanding the last sentence in this passage. Please help me define "hard to top that" in this context. He gave me a grin that made him look appealing in spite of his greasy hair, bad skin, and unfortunate features. If he'd do something about his hair and skin and smile like that more often, he might be even more successful with women with his real face than he was with the handsome illusion and attraction spells he used. Or maybe not. He averaged about three dates per weekend; it would be hard to top that.

3 comments

Kseniya_ns•
It means, it would be hard to do any better than that etc.
Formal-Tie3158•
https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/top Verb, definition 3: > To excel, to surpass, to beat, to exceed. So > It would be difficult to surpass [three dates per weekend].
valkenar•
In this context it means it would be hard for the person to get more than three dates per weekend. So even if he improved his appearance, it would be hard to do get more dates than he already does. To "top" means to improve on. Something that's hard to top is something that is hard to beat or hard to get a better result. When Simone Biles does a floor routine, you might say that her performance is hard to top. It might be possible, but it's going to be a very difficult challenge for anyone else to do better.